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Most of us think of casinos or James Bond when we hear about Monte Carlo. But to today’s guest, Monte Carlo makes him think about algorithms. Monte Carlo simulations use random sampling to produce a distribution of results from which we can draw conclusions. These computational science techniques help us answer some of the world’s toughest challenges at the atomic level.

Obviously, computational Science is an exponentially-growing multidisciplinary field that uses advanced computing capabilities to understand and solve big, complex problems. It is an area of science which spans many disciplines, but at its core it involves the development of mathematical models and simulations to understand natural systems. Think about the way that we predict the weather. In order to predict the weather, scientists run a simulation many times over, randomly choosing atmospheric data and then looking at common themes across those simulations to generate an idea of what weather is most likely for a given area. When we hear meteorologists say, “We have a 60% chance of rain today", they are really saying, "60% of our simulations predict rain today.” If we elevate our thinking from mundane rain clouds to simulations of material properties, things get interesting.

According to our guest, Chris Wilmer, thanks to computational science techniques, the beginning of the 21st century has seen an explosion in the design of porous materials for a wide range of applications, from gas storage and chemical separations, to sensing and light harvesting. In this episode, Dr. Chris Wilmer describes how he designs atomically engineered materials through the application of modern computing infrastructure, thereby developing material discovery algorithms. Using this platform, he creates millions of hypothetical structures, stores these structures in databases, and then uses high-performance computing to rapidly simulate their properties. He can then validate the performance of materials through an automated workflow, providing a powerful prediction-meets-data feedback loop.

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has been around since the early 1980’s. A 3-dimensional, physical printed object is created by using additive processes. In an additive process, an object is formed by laying down continuous layers of material until the object is created.

In television like the popular show “Westworld” viewers have been introduced to humanoid robots that are 3D printed. While creating an entire human being may sound extremely futuristic, the technology to print human body parts already exists and could become a standard practice in the years to come. Researchers are working tirelessly to create body parts and artificial organs meant to replace, or even enhance our human machinery.

This episode features one of those world-renowned researchers. Dr. David Gracias is from the departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. His fascinating and amazing work is focused on the ability to three-dimensionally interweave biological tissue with functional electronics so that we may enable the creation of bionic organs possessing enhanced functionalities over our current human counterparts. Dr. Gracias was part of the team that used 3-D printing of cartilage cells and nanomaterials to create functional ears that receive radio signals. They used a computer-aided design (CAD) drawing of a human right ear as a blueprint for the printing and then used three components as the printer “inks”: cartilage cells in a hydrogel matrix, structural silicone, and silicone infused with silver nanoparticles. The ear was built layer by layer with an ordinary 3-D printer, with the silver-infused “ink” formed a coiled antenna.

Dr. De Grey is a biomedical gerontologist who researched the idea for and founded SENS Research Foundation. SENS Research Foundation is a public charity that is transforming the way the world researches and treats age-related disease.

SENS asserts that two thirds of all deaths worldwide, and about 90% of all deaths in the developed world, are from causes that only rarely kill young adults. If we look at the entire world, then the number of deaths that occur each day is roughly 150,000 and about two-thirds of them are because of aging. These causes include Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes and most cancers. They are age-related because they are expressions of the later stages of aging, occurring when the molecular and cellular damage that has accumulated in the body throughout life exceeds the level that metabolism can tolerate.

Before it kills us, aging, imposes on most elderly people, a long period of decline, debilitation and disease. For these reasons, aging is unarguably the most prevalent medically-relevant phenomenon in the modern world and the primary ultimate target of biomedical research.

In this episode, we have the distinct honor and privilege to talk to one of the world’s foremost experts on aging and learn about his assertion that the first human beings who will live to be 1,000 years old have already been born.

Thirty-five years ago, it was odd to use the words “green” and “chemistry” in the same sentence. Today, although Green Chemistry is an accepted discipline, we are still at the beginning of a growing movement to rethink how chemistry & engineering are carried out, in order to be truly sustainable and to improve lives.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous substances. EPA's efforts to speed the adoption of this revolutionary and diverse discipline have led to real change and anyone that cares about the air their neighbors breathe and the water their friends and family drink should hope that this work continues. There is an innate connection between a passion for sustainability and a passion for health…the two really are inherently connected and it should surprise no one that some of the world’s most creative green chemists have also drifted into what one might term “health engineering”.

In this episode, we have the distinct honor and privilege to talk to one of the champions and fathers of green chemical engineering, Dr. Eric Beckman.

Over the past decades, we have seen great developments and continued evolution for a powerful criminal justice tool. Deoxyribonucleic Acid, or DNA. DNA has become a tool that is used to identify criminals with incredible accuracy when biological evidence is available. DNA can also be used to eliminate suspects and absolve people mistakenly accused of or convicted of crimes. DNA technology is increasingly vital and reliable to ensuring accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system.

In cases where a suspect has not yet been identified, biological evidence from the crime scene can be analyzed and compared to offender profiles in DNA databases to help identify the offender. Crime scene evidence can also be linked to other crime scenes using DNA databases. The founders of Cybergenetics use computers to automate the interpretation of DNA data for medical diagnosis, gene discovery, solving crimes, freeing the innocent and prosecuting the guilty.

The integration of data analytics and digital disruption is remaking the world when it comes to financial, industrial, healthcare and even political markets. According to General Electric, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), also known as the Industrial Internet, brings together brilliant machines, advanced data analytics, and people at work. It’s the network of a multitude of devices connected by communications technologies that results in systems that can monitor, collect, exchange, analyze, and deliver valuable new insights like never before. These insights can then help drive smarter, faster business decisions for industrial companies. One way to think about it is to think of the Industrial Internet as connecting machines and devices in industries where there is a lot at stake or where system failures and unplanned interruptions can result in life-threatening or high-risk situations.

Today, we are going to introduce you to CEO, Hahna Alexander of SOLEPOWER. Hahna hopes to grab some of that huge market potential with a novel approach to driving productivity across industries.

The human eye has more than 2 million working parts. It is capable of seeing at a resolution of 576 megapixels. Corneas are the only tissues in the body that do not require blood. Our eyes can process 36,000 bits of information an hour and blink 10,000 times a day.300 million times in a lifetime. Under the right conditions, the human eye can see the light of a candle at a distance of 14 miles and can see 2.7 million different colors. The eye has about 12 million photo receptors (light-sensitive cells).The retina contains 130 million rods for night vision and 7 million color-sensitive cones for day vision…..And as magnificent and complex as the human eye is; without light, there would be no sight. The eye is a processor of light. The visual ability of humans is the result of the complex interaction of light, eyes and brain. We are able to see because light from an object can move through space and reach our eyes. Once light reaches our eyes, signals are sent to our brain and our brain interprets the information in order to detect the appearance, location and movement of the objects we are seeing. A team of researchers at the Illumination and Imaging Lab at Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute, led by Srinivasa Narasimhan have been doing fascinating, game-changing research dedicated to the study of light transport and the development of novel illumination and imaging technologies that will help humans “see” better. Let us listen.

Please join us as Dr. Aryn Gittis, associate professor in Biological Sciences and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University, discusses the neural circuitry of the basal ganglia, a brain system involved in movement, learning, motivation, and reward. Dysfunction of neural circuits in the basal ganglia is thought to play a role in neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Tourette syndrome, and dystonia, as well as many neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety, OCD, and addiction. Dr. Gittis will explain her novel approach to effectively treating Parkinson’s disease by controlling the interaction among brain cells (neurons) in the basal ganglia. In normal function, neurons talk to each other to create normal function. When neurons stop talking to one another, the pattern changes and causes the shaking that we see in Parkinson’s. Currently, the therapeutic effects of standard, high frequency Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)(Episode - The Mystery of The Human Brian) controlsthe debilitating motor symptoms of patients with Parkinson’s disease but rapidly decays once the stimulation is turned off. Dr. Gittis is working to develop therapy that extends the effects of DBS for patients with Parkinson’s disease to have ongoing, uninterrupted relief.

Ingestible electronic devices have the potential to obviate many of the challenges associated with chronic implants such as risk of infection, chronic inflammation, and costly surgical procedures. Examples of ingestible electronics not only include edible cameras, but also ingestible event monitors, and integrated smart drug delivery systems.

Today, scientists are working on a variety of new non-toxic, biologically friendly ingestible electronics that can be ingested and implanted in the body. These medical devices, made from materials that are naturally produced in the body, can be programmed to deliver medicines, perform lifesaving activities from inside the body and also report back information from a disease site or problem area in a patient. These edible electronics also need a power source that is biocompatible or biodegradable. In this episode, Dr. Chris Bettinger, one of the world’s leading experts on ingestible devices will discuss all of the exciting possibilities of edible electronics.

It beats 80 times a minute, about 115,000 times in one day or 42 million times in a year. It pumps five or six quarts each minute, or about 2,000 gallons per day. During a typical lifetime, it will beat more than 3 billion times -- pumping an amount of blood through the body that equals about 1 million barrels. If that was oil, it would supply your house with power till the year 84,000…or let you drive a Toyota Prius to the Sun and back 34 times. Of course we are not talking about pumping oil but the human heart pumping blood. The human heart is a fist-sized powerhouse that acts as the engine of life; pumping blood through the body’s system of blood. In addition to transporting fresh oxygen from the lungs and necessary nutrients to the body's tissues, blood also pulls the body's waste products, like carbon dioxide, away from the tissues. A necessity to sustain a heathy life.

Nearly every family will experience the effects of Cardiovascular Disease. Congestive heart failure alone touches 5 million people in the U.S., it’s devastating effects reducing the quality of a person’s life and leading to early mortality. On this episode, we talk to, Dr. Gerald Buckberg, one of the world’s foremost experts on battling heart disease and fixing the human heart.

According to IBM, every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. This data as coming from everywhere: things like sensors used to gather weather data, social media posts, all of the digital pictures and videos people create, sales and transaction receipts, and smart phone GPS location tracking data. This can all be described as BIG data.

So how is big data affecting healthcare and how can insights from big data change and innovate the delivery of healthcare? First we must realize that characteristics of data in healthcare are distinctive. Healthcare data is not easily harnessed. Meet Richard Clarke. One of the thought leaders working to make healthcare data work to improve our health and wellness.

The Institute of Medicine estimates that diagnostic errors affect 12 million Americans every year. More accurate and efficient tools for doctors to better handle and analyze data could greatly reduce that number. Every time a doctor sees a patient, they are solving a complex data problem. The goal of each case is to arrive at an optimal diagnostic decision based on many forms of clinical data.

Let’s listen as Kevin Lyman from Enlitic talks about how his history as a championship gamer and toy designer has led him to using deep learning to find medical insights from billions of clinical cases that will help doctors handle patient data more efficiently and successfully. Ultimately bringing better care and outcomes to millions of patients.

Pediatricians are realizing that tech tools such as wearable devices can help form a communication bridge to reluctant patients. Juan Espinoza, MD, FAAP, Attending Physician and Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the Keck School of Medicine of USC believes that using tech tools and medium (such as social media) that young patients are familiar with or excited about is potentially the way to better care and improved outcomes, especially for those who have been traditionally resistant to treatment.

The delivery of healthcare, particularly in the in-patient setting, is facing rising costs and a lack of robust quality measures. Patients suffer from preventable errors, accidents such as patient-falls continue to occur and infections/environmental hazards complicate patient recovery. These problems plague American Healthcare even as diligent, skilled and passionate clinicians work to help patients and deliver the best care at the right time for the best price.

Listen in as we conclude our three-episode discussion in front of a Carnegie Mellon University audience of researchers, staff and students who are participating in a fireside chat with Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, President and CEO of Allegheny General Hospital.

The delivery of healthcare, particularly in the in-patient setting, is facing rising costs and a lack of robust quality measures. Patients suffer from preventable errors, accidents such as patient-falls continue to occur and infections/environmental hazards complicate patient recovery. These problems plague American Healthcare even as diligent, skilled and passionate clinicians work to help patients and deliver the best care at the right time for the best price.

Listen in as we continue part two of our three-episode discussion in front of a Carnegie Mellon University audience of researchers, staff and students who are participating in a fireside chat with Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, President and CEO of Allegheny General Hospital.

The delivery of healthcare, particularly in the in-patient setting, is facing rising costs and a lack of robust quality measures. Patients suffer from preventable errors, accidents such as patient-falls continue to occur and infections/environmental hazards complicate patient recovery. These problems plague American Healthcare even as diligent, skilled and passionate clinicians work to help patients and deliver the best care at the right time for the best price.

Today, our episode will be held in front of a Carnegie Mellon University audience of researchers, staff and students who are participating in a fireside chat with Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, President and CEO of Allegheny General Hospital.

The delivery of healthcare, particularly in the in-patient setting, is facing rising costs and a lack of robust quality measures. Patients suffer from preventable errors, accidents such as patient-falls continue to occur and infections/environmental hazards complicate patient recovery. These problems plague American Healthcare even as diligent, skilled and passionate clinicians work to help patients and deliver the best care at the right time for the best price.

Today, our episode will be held in front of a Carnegie Mellon University audience of researchers, staff and students who are participating in a fireside chat with Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, President and CEO of Allegheny General Hospital.

Healthcare systems around the world are struggling with increased costs and inconsistent quality while trying to provide improved value for patients. In most health care settings in today’s existing system, no one entity is accountable for improving the combination of patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction); for improving the health of populations; and for reducing the per capita cost of health care. For the health of our communities, for the health of our school systems, and for the health of all patients, companies, providers and payers must collaborate to test new models of care for the broadest adoption of best practices and effective innovations and healthcare technologies.

On this episode of Innovation Unleashed, Dr. Axel Heitmueller, Managing Director of Imperial College Health Partners in the United Kingdom will discuss the way that they work to enable the discovery and adoption of emerging innovations in healthcare; support the adoption and diffusion of existing best practice and innovation so that patients benefit more quickly; and create an innovation-friendly culture and marketplace, strengthening its capacity to partner with academia and industry.

According to the Society of Neuroscience, the average human brain has about 90 billion neurons that make 100 trillion connections or synapses. Scientists believe this astounding number of neurons is accountable for the traits that make us uniquely human: our thoughts, memories and emotions. Recent technological advances have made the brain accessible in a way that previous generations of scientists could only dream about. And yet the brain is still a mystery. On this episode of Innovation Unleashed, we will talk with Dr. Donald Whiting, Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery for Allegheny Health Network and is Director of the Allegheny General Hospital’s nationally recognized Center for Spasticity and Movement Disorders and Division of Neuromodulation and one of just a handful of renowned specialists in the country who are helping study and pioneer the use of Deep Brain Stimulation for treating conditions other than movement disorders, including obesity and obsessive compulsive disorder. Dr. Whiting will also discuss novel techniques and technologies to better image the spine and provide more personalized care strategies for patients with back and neck injuries.

In this week’s episode, Lynn Banaszak continues her conversations with world leaders about improving patient outcomes, enhancing wellness of healthy consumers, exploring digital therapeutics and new care delivery tools. While on location at the Health XL Global Gathering, she talked with Dr. David Levine, a general internist and research fellow in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School about his Home Hospital research. Instead of admitting patients to the hospital, he “admits” them back home. He also shares some of his other interests in the quality of outpatient care, digital health tech and novel approaches of care delivery.

In this week’s episode Innovation Unleashed heads back to the Health XL Global Gathering to talk with world leaders about improving patient outcomes, enhancing wellness of healthy consumers, driving R&D operational advances, and exploring digital therapeutics and genomics. Alexander Grunewald, Global Head of HealthTech Business Development at Johnson & Johnson shares his perspective about innovation being the lifeblood in pharma and the way that patient outcomes lead all of their efforts to bring the right healthcare solutions to market.

The business of innovation requires leaders that understand that new ideas and implementation of those ideas can’t end and begin with them. They understand that they must bring others along on the journey, helping to get them to think in new ways. They understand that they must invest in ideas and take risk. By doing so, they can build an entire movement and ecosystem of forward-thinkers and innovative ideas. Dr. Alan Russell and Lynn Banaszak have been working to create an ecosystem of innovation for decades. Let’s listen as they discuss their path to innovation.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could just take a pill and wouldn’t have to do anything else to control and alleviate disease? Technology drives so many solutions to problems but the human body is a difficult place to master, even for technology-enhanced medicine. Many drugs that we take have to enter our bloodstream, then bypass our immune system and finally arrive at a precise location within a targeted cell.

It takes the brightest minds in science, medicine and research to tackle this process and to come up with novel way to develop the drugs of tomorrow. Meet Katie Whitehead. One of Popular Science’s 2015 Brilliant Ten.

In the age of what people are calling, Personalized Healthcare - - science and engineering is being united to provide the right treatment to the right person at the right time. Under the umbrella of Personalized Healthcare people also talk about Personalized Medicine which typically refers specifically to the use of genetics and genomics to help treat and cure disease. What does all of this actually mean today to a person who is trying to prevent, treat or battle a disease?

About 120,000 people in the United States are currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. Every ten minutes, someone is added to the national transplant waiting list. On average, 22 people die each day while waiting for a transplant.

Regenerative medicine is a game-changing area of medicine with the potential to grow and fully heal damaged tissues and organs, offering solutions and hope for people who have conditions that are currently beyond repair.

There is a myth in this country that aging is an inevitable decline from Vitality to Frailty. It's not true. We can live healthy, active, and joyful lives until our very last days....if we choose to.

We are in charge of our health and well-being. A recent study conducted by a team at Harvard Medical School calculated that 20 to 40 percent of cancer cases and half of cancer deaths could be prevented if people quit smoking, avoided heavy drinking, kept a healthy weight and got just a half hour a day of moderate exercise.

Explore the ways that we can use technology to drive personal change, live more and create a better life.